Ouija boards came into wide use with the spiritualistic movement that began in the

1840's and lasted until the 1920's. Spiritualism was a religious movement which
featured a belief that spirits of the dead could be contacted by mediums. Are
people really able contact the spirit world with an Ouija board? There are many
stories that claim just that. According to Wikipedia, In 1944, occultist Manly P.
Hall, the founder of the Philosophical Research Society and an early authority on
the occult in the 20th century, stated in Horizon magazine that, "during the last
20-25 years I have had considerable personal experience with persons who have
complicated their lives through dabbling with the Ouija board. Out of every
hundred such cases, at least 95 are worse off for the experience." He went on to
say that, "I know of broken homes, estranged families, and even suicides that can
be traced directly to this source. Therefore one should consider this device as
dangerous at best and deadly at worst. The Scriptures strongly prohibits mediums.
The following advice/command is for our best. Regard not them that have familiar
spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your
God. (Leviticus 19:31) And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have
familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people
seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? (Isaiah 8:19) Let us now take a
look at the origins of the Ouija board. The origins of the Ouija board begin with
two sisters; the Fox sisters, who actively claimed to communicate with spirits on
a regular basis. They developed a system of knocks for each letter of the alphabet
and so communicated with the spirit world using this method. Word traveled fast
about the sisters' talent of contacting the dead and soon everyone from America to
Europe wanted to do the same. Parlour games were soon on the market with the first
being the "Planchette" meaning Little Board in French. The Planchette was a board
of wood with a pencil attached and two wheels. Fingers would be placed on the
board of wood and the spirits would guide the movement of hands creating words. Of
course these games were open to interpretation and often players could not
decipher what it was the spirits were saying and soon became bored with the amount
of time it took to spell out words. More games such as this became available but
in 1891 two gentlemen, Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard, had an idea to attach the
planchette to a board with the alphabet on it and had in fact invented the first
Ouija board. The famous "William Fuld", who at the time was an employee of Kennard
eventually took over production of the board in 1901 under his own company name
and quickly patented the name "Ouija". He then successfully sold his version of
the board under that name. Fuld claimed the word "Ouija" was entirely his idea and
given to him via a séance using his very own board. He claimed the word was
ancient Egyptian for "Good Luck". This is incorrect, but the name has continued on
ever since. William Fuld actively sued copies of the Ouija or any other companies
daring to use the name or concept right up until his death in 1927. The Fuld
business was eventually sold off to Parker Brothers (now Hasbro) in 1966. Hasbro
still holds the trademark to this day, however this trademark is not international
and also not genericizised for the Ouija board. Ouija boards are sold in stores
today. The Ouija board hasn't always enjoyed novelty status however, and as many
of you may know, it has a darker, more sinister association. The board was
considered to be a fun game for all the family to play, especially for friends to
gather and play after dinner parties in Victorian times. This was until the early
1920's, when a shadow was thrown over the use of the Ouija Board and contacting
the dead. Famous magician Harry Houdini who was also noted for debunking seances
and querying the paranormal, wrote that five people from Carrito, California were
driven insane by using a board. Some doctors began noticing altered states of mind
in some constant users of the board, these states were sometimes so severe that
commitment to an asylum was required. Dr. Curry, a former medical direct of the
Sate Insane Asylum of New Jersey claimed that the Ouija board was a dangerous
factor in unbalancing the mind and believed that if their popularity persisted,
insane asylums would be filled with people who used them. The next major and
probably the most momentous influence in the downfall of the Ouija was in 1973
after the release of the well known horror film The Exorcist. In The Exorcist
Regan, the girl possessed by Pazuzu the Demon, first communicated with the Demon
through an Ouija Board. For the first time the public wholeheartedly believed in
the movie's idea that playing with a Ouija board could result in nothing but
trouble, or, as in Regan's case worse. The Ouija board then suffered a great
decline in its popularity, people began burning their own boards and shunning the
sale of them from game stores. To this day the Ouija board has never shaken off
that terrible connection with evil, the dark side and black magic. From all the
stories that I have ever read, nobody says the benefits out way the risks in the
use of this devilish device. My advice is that if you are in need of comfort or
help, pray to God and ask your local church to pray for you. If you are lonely and
hurt go buy a dog, talk to your family, or go online. Many things are far better
and helpful than this plague called a game.